The ins and outs of settling OSHA violations

• There are serious long-term, non-monetary consequences of settling or accepting OSHA citations.
• One danger of settling OSHA citations is later being cited for repeat, willful, or failure to abate violations and putting on the road to significant additional costs and enforcement activity.
• Therefore, companies should utilize their resources to ensure any violations that are upheld are correct.
• A potential repeat or willful violation carries a maximum penalty of $156,259 per violation and can trigger greater enforcement activity, such as inclusion in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
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Fines after Utah ski patroller dies

• Park City Mountain should have known there were hazardous conditions near the Short Cut lift that contributed to the death of a 29-year-old employee earlier this year.
• Resort workers told a Utah Occupational Safety & Health compliance officer the lift had closed on New Year’s Day, one day before the accident, to remove dangerous trees — with at least one reportedly falling on the line.
• A tree fell onto the lift again the next morning, causing ski patroller Christian Helger to fall approximately 50 feet from his chair headfirst into deep snow.
• Vail Resorts, the parent company of Park City Mountain, was issued a $2,500 fine following an investigation by the Utah Occupational Safety & Health.
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Oregon raises fines for fatalities

• Oregon employers have some of the highest safety fines in the nation.
• The new law raising fine maximums far above federal limits was signed by Gov. Tina Kotek and took effect immediately because the Democrat-majority Legislature passed the bill earlier in the month as an emergency measure.
• Oregon can now propose up to a $250,000 fine when a repeat or willful violation “caused or contributed to the death of an employee,” according to the law.
• This is almost $100,000 higher than the federal limit.
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Lawsuit filed after death of construction worker

• A Houston-based law firm has filed a lawsuit against Lennar Corp. seeking more than $1 million in damages for injuries to a construction worker, Omar Jimenez Medina, when the Conroe home he was working in collapsed during a storm.
• OSHA is also investigating the incident
• Medina was one of seven men injured when the two-story home collapsed in the Ladera Creek subdivision of Loop 336.
• Two other men, Angel Gumaro Huerta Pedraza, 35, and Brayan Rubì Lopez Aguilar, 21, were killed in the collapse.
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